A final decision on the signing of the contract will be taken after the aircraft will take part in the naval drills at the US Navy Base in Florida in 2013.

By this time Be-200’s cockpit will be adjusted for the use of night vision goggles. It will take twelve months to install night vision goggle-compatible cockpit lighting equipment.

Be-200 amphibious planes are manufactured by Russia’s Irkut Corporation that hands over the production of Be-200 to its subsidiary – the Taganrog Beriyev Aviation Scientific-Technical Complex.

Until now only Russia’s Emergencies Ministry bought these planes. At present, the Emergencies Ministry has six Be-200ChS amphibious firefighting aircraft in its fleet. Four planes were received before 2010.

In 2010 the government decided to buy another eight Be-200ChS for the Emergencies Ministry, which received two of them in 2011. Another six planes will be delivered in 2013-2014. In 2008 Azerbaijan’s Emergencies Ministry also got this plane.

Lionel Champeaud, EADS Vice President International Development Strategy and Marketing, told Arms-Tass earlier that after Be-200 got its EASA-type certificate in September 2010 the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company in cooperation with Russian specialists takes additional efforts to promote the plane in the global market.